Dubai, 2017

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Resting on the Scaffolding / charcoal on paper / 79 x 107 cm / 2017

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In the summer of 2016 I worked for several weeks on a construction site in Dubai. It was the hottest time of the year with temperatures up to 48 degrees Celsius during the day. The work site was crowded with migrant workers from India and Pakistan, from central and south-east Asia and Africa, who worked 14 hours shifts in a building with no airconditioning. The place was chaotic and loud, the work heavy and the heat unbearable. The only watertap was in an alley outside next to the toilets. Men crouched in the shadows, hiding from the blazing sun and poured water over the scarves and blankets that they wrapped around their heads. During lunchbreak most of these men laid themselves down on the concrete floor to sleep.